exhilaration
by NaruBaby2496
Summary: AU "You know you're still exhilarated by him, Forehead." The roseate frowned immediately, crossing her arms in defiance. "Um, no. It's more like I was. Like, past tense." Ino stared at her friend blankly. "I'm EX-hilarated. Ex-crush. EX-hilarated." SS


Chapter One

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**Konoha Academy Times **

**DAILY~!**

_Lunch Special Schedule_

_**Today! (Monday):**__ Chicken Panini with your choice of Potato Chips, Fries, or Mashed Potatoes._

_**Tuesday:**__ Linguini Pasta with (or without) creamy Alfredo sauce. Have your choice of Cookies, Cupcakes or Muffins in assorted flavors._

_**Wednesday:**__ Ichiraku Specialty Ramen prepared and served by Ichiraku employees. Varied flavors, sizes and drinks available at the stand available to purchase during lunch hours. Oranges, Strawberries, Cherries and other fruits available at your request, as well as Yogurt and/or Smoothie._

_**Thursday: TBA **_

_**Friday:**__ Pizza Hut™ Pizza and Wing Street™ Wings. Various toppings (i.e. Sausage, Pepperoni, Cheese, Cheesy Crust, Stuffed Crust, Hawaiian and Spicy Barbeque, Honey Barbeque, Hot n Spicy, etc. etc.)FIRST COME, FIRST SERVE. No dessert option unless announced on later date. _

^*^*^

**FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL ACTIVITIES!**

_**Freshmen:**_ _Today, around noon, the teachers have planned a sort of orientation for you freshmen. It'll be, definitely, held in the Main Gym, and will most likely have you all going on a tour of your buildings one last time. I say it'll go on from 12 to maybe 1. You lucky dogs. _

_**Sophomores:**_ _Mr. Maito wants to go over sports stuff again (as per usual beginning of the year for the sophomore class). My guess, just going off last year, is that he'll tell you about all the glorious prizes we've won in everything and explain what each sport entails. Of course, he has to mention the 110 percent at all times no less than a 3.875 GPA. He has bog expectations—anyway, going off my sources, the assembly will be from 12 to 1 in Training Field A. Have fun! (Not really…)_

_**Juniors:**_ _During lunch, we'll be having a presentation about the KUTs, (Konoha University Tests), and then maybe, if we're lucky, Lady Tsunade will let us leave that stuffy lunchroom and eat outside after. However, that hardly happens when we have lunch presentations…_

_**Seniors:**_ _during the beginning of the day after homeroom, ya'll will have an assembly at Training Field B on the senior activities (i.e. Prom, Suna Trip, and Kiri Boat Trip, You Know the Rest…). I say about an hour. _

**SCHOOL IS OVER AT 1:00 TODAY! BE OFF THE GROUNDS BY 1:15 (OR IBIKI-SENSEI WILL GIVE YOU EXTRA LAPS!)! **

**THERE WILL STILL BE LUNCH FOR EACH GRADE!**

^*^*^

_**OTHER NOTES:**_

_**Haruno Sakura**_

_**And Uzumaki Naruto**_

_**Lady Tsunade wishes to see you in the principal's office no later than 9:05 AM. She said it's a surprise and that you'll probably miss homeroom and at least half of Period 1. **_

^*^*^

HAVE AN **AWESOME** K.A. DAY!

Isao Benji, Head of K.A.T. Daily

Haruno Sakura, Head of K.A.T.

* * *

The sun shined brightly through the multiple oak, maple, and sakura trees, creating cool patterns of darkened, shadowed green and saturated, light, sun bathing green on the grass. Cerulean, cloudless skies danced with the rays of the huge ball of fire in the sky, making the world seem far too perfect for this to be the first day of school.

Circles of friends scattered themselves on the lawn, some seated in the slightly damp grass, some leaning against one of the many choices of trees, others resting high on the stony ledge of a tan barrier, locking the school away from the world. However, most of the adrenaline junkies would dare climb up there by tree, even if it were against the rules.

Even the birds chirruped happily, singing the song of summer, even if it were coming to a quick end.

The fact quickly became undeniable when the horde of usual students slummed through the slowly opening gates, receiving the daily KAT newsletter, written by Isao Benji, one of the most…unpredictable people in the Journalism department, so much so the whole crew had been crossing their fingers, praying she'd remember that the newsletters started today, not…whenever she decided they'd start.

Sitting with her usual group of friends, a girl with the brightness of the summer sun packed into her smile glanced over the printer paper, cynical green eyes reading over each word for typos naturally. She wasn't head of the main paper for nothing. Pushing that aside, too, the beauty had a perfect 4.0 GPA every marking period, so when she saw her name next to Naruto Uzumaki's, she squeaked involuntarily. Something had to be up, and this 'surprise' could be many things. Could Tsunade have figured out about what she did over the summer with Naruto, trying to get Sasuke to come back, though she ended up knocking out three students and assaulting Sasuke (almost)? That could get them both in loads of trouble.

On the same page as her, all of the girls lifted their heads from the paper simultaneously, soft eyebrows rising in inquisition together. Carefully, Cotton Candy Pink glossed lips opened, "What the hell, Billboard Brow? Did you, like, kill someone over summer vacation?"

So-called Billboard Brow, scrunched her face together in annoyance at her friend and her stupid nickname, but realization of what she said made the girl's heart race. Slowly, she blinked, clearing her thoughts and putting her clueless mask, slumping her shoulders. Normally she would tell her friends everything, but what happened over the summer was just plain embarrassing.

Sighing, Sakura mumbled, keeping her eyes inconspicuously downcast. "I don't know. Maybe Naruto did something; ever since that Teamwork project back in Middle School…"

The girls all groaned—yes! The diversion plan has worked! Sakura almost jumped for joy at the moment, but forced herself to look blue, just for the sake of keeping the truth under wraps. They would know eventually, whether she was the one to tell them or not.

While Sakura was keeping her mind on sad things like crying puppies, her other friends were reliving some of the most hectic years of their lives. Teamwork Projects.

They were the most aggravating thing! Each homeroom teacher separated their classroom into groups of three, and that's how they were graded for the three years of middle school. The teachers averaged everything that the 'Team' did together.

TenTen, the lucky thing, had both Rock Lee and Hyuuga Neji on her Team. They were technically Team 9, but with Rock Lee being obsessed with there now 11th grade English teacher Gai, he immediately changed it to Team Gai. TenTen not only had the most athletically gifted green bean in the world, but she got eye candy. It wasn't a secret that the Hyuuga was the sexiest guy in the 11th grade, but he was also the smartest. Therefore, it was no hard time trying to guess why TenTen always got all A's on her report card in both Physical Education and Academics.

Ino, she wasn't as lucky, but she still got some four-leaf clovers shoved in her face. She, Nara Shikamaru, and Akimichi Choji were all on Team 10. Not only were they InoShikaCho, its lucky or something, but Ino had Shikamaru on her team. Apparently, the guy could've been a sophomore in 6th grade if he wanted. Yeah, the blonde's Academic average was always above 100 percent, but in P.E….lets just say, it was not a welcome sight. Choji would rather shave his tongue off then exercise, Ino would rather cut her hair with a lawn mower than face the potential of breaking one of her French manicured nails, and Shikamaru would rather be in 11th grade than be woken up to participate in Gym.

Hinata was in a pretty dead-even tie with Sakura for the worst team ever. With her were Inuzuka Kiba and Aburame Shino, and the three of them formed Team 8. Kiba was an ADHD victim (he had to be, nothing else could justify), and couldn't sit still worth two million dollars, though, it didn't hurt the Hyuuga girl's gym average in the least. Kiba, in simplest terms, was a beast. Shino was weird but smart. Enough said about that…

Sakura got the worst team in history, just because of a boy named Naruto, in the beginning, but now it was because of Sasuke. The Emo whiny pansy had to go and decide to run havoc everywhere! First, he ran off to Sound Academy during the beginning of seventh grade year just because Orochimaru (self-proclaimed-by-Sakura-and-many-others pedophile) said that he would be a great asset to his school, and that he could help out with Sasuke's goal of killing his brother, Itachi. So, then, he killed Orochimaru—apparently after he got enough power—ran off to Ame University, killed his brother, formed his own team, reeked more havoc by pitting against the principal of Kumo Academy's brother, pranced himself to the Principal's Meeting in the Land of Iron, killed our then principal Danzo, and announced he was going to bomb our school. All that, in one summer. The roseate sighed; she couldn't believe she used to like that guy.

Well…actually, all the girls rather separated themselves from the boys after middle school when the Teamwork Projects were over. They were nothing to them anymore. They'd passed. That's all that mattered. Now they were smaller to their lives than one of Shino's tics.

Shaking her head and clearing the memories that were resurfacing themselves from when she was a member of Team 7 (both happy and sad), Sakura pouted. "You know what I hope its not about but probably will end up being about?"

TenTen and Ino smiled mischievously, coming together, clasping their hands together lovingly. Hearts forming in their eyes, they swooned. "Sasuke-kun…"

"I did not say his name like that!"

Ino's ear-to-ear grin grew wider, her clear blue eyes dancing. "Maybe you said it like…" She bit her lip sexily, "Mm, Sasuke-k_uuun_, stop it…**AH**!"

Three pairs of eyes widened, shocked and suddenly overtly uncomfortable being so close to their blonde friend. Things like this only happened when _somebody_ had one heck of a summer romance.

Sakura covered her reddening cheeks with both of her hands, screeching in shock. "Ino-pig! God, what is wrong with you!"

"Ha-ha, I was just kidding—working for reaction. Anyway, Sakura, it's nine double oh. You should get going."

Before Ino finished her sentence, the little cherry blossom had sprinted so quickly up the stairs leading inside the building that she missed a large commotion arriving fashionably late inside the gates, just as they were closing.

* * *

Some people called them undeniably attractive, others jaw-dropping-ly gorgeous, the brave deemed them delectably delicious, the shy just squealed and blushed, but they all agreed. They were Untouchable.

They walked in a straight line, as per usual, Hyuuga Neji leading the line. A strong jaw line, smooth and carved to perfection, led to impeccably angled cheekbones, picturesque face from any angle, long, shiny, soft, and silky as glass brown hair fell down his strong, wide, shoulders to the small of his back in a gentle ponytail, the dark color contrasting flawlessly against his blemish free angelic porcelain skin. Hypnotizing milky white, pearly eyes stared stonily ahead, not a hint of emotion glazed over the mysterious eyes as the girls surrounding the opening gasped at his new, older body, and how he'd…grown…over the summer. He was even more beautiful.

Falling next in the line was Nara Shikamaru, a different kind of handsome. Cigarette popped in his mouth to honor his fallen 10th grade teacher who'd died protecting him, his narrow, dark pools of eyes were endless, black holes of knowledge, a book only to be opened by those who knew the secret password, pages only comprehended by those who knew the language of his heart. Soft yet faultlessly toned muscles molded their way into vision from his dark green Aeropostale tee shirt, contrasting nicely with his slightly tanned, but not really, skin. He screamed intellectual, his aura shouted genius, and his presence demanded your attention be diverted to him, wonder why he was so painstakingly drawing. Maybe it was the way his dark hair was pulled into a high ponytail, similar to a pineapple. Girls would admit they didn't know why they wanted Nara Shikamaru, but when his dark, ingenious eyes would flash their way, they discovered the answer.

Eyes shifted automatically to the right, where Uzumaki Naruto always stood, refusing to walk straight in the line since he was such a rebel. Upon seeing the awaiting crowd, his pouty, touchable, _kiss_able lips curved upward to reveal perfectly straight, white, glistening teeth, a crooked, charming smile donning his tan, freckled face. Many girls sighed happily, fainting before their eyes could even travel to the deep blue oceans Naruto's eyes were, shining magically as he smiled, whenever he met someone new, wherever he was, because what was different about the Uzumaki was his open heart. Kind, peaceful, compassionate words always left his mouth, and he made you feel better, even if you just ogling at his body, created to perfection, or you were imagining how his messy, rustic, blond hair felt in between your fingers. He'd, after traveling most of the Fire Country with his godfather, Jiraiya, returned to Konoha freshman year, this time not as annoying, but annoyingly _sexy_. How someone could go to dead last to…

As if they were all on the same cue, the girls' body's twisted to Naruto's left, where a tall, muscular, black converse wearing, Ralph Lauren watch donning, American Eagle muscle tee sporting, and dark, concealing Gucci sunglass cladding was walking, calmly, so nonchalant that it was magnetizing, and when he swiped off his glasses, the pounding of hearts echoed. The crowd gasped, taking in the more defined jaw line than Neji's, the dark eyes more smoldering than Shikamaru's, lips more kissable than Naruto's, skin more flawless than a Hyuuga's, a touch tanner than a Nara's, muscles more brain boggling than those of all three the boys combined, cheek bones more model worthy than Orlando Bloom's, hair more mystifying and awe-bringing than an Uzumaki's. Was it as soft? Was it as smooth as Neji's? How much hairspray does he use to get it like that? And then, it happened. A twitch of his undeniably soft lips upwards and they saw it. The smirk.

The Uchiha Smirk (c).

Before a millisecond could pass, the girls exploded at once, realizing who this was, praising Kami for finally answering prayer of his return. Starting the stream of yelps, a girl far in the back, screeched. "SASUUUKEEE-KUUUUNNN!"

This only made the teen's smirk widen, and as he placed the glasses back over his eyes, he nodded toward his friend, catching his attention.

"Nice welcome services."

His voice was deep, a flawless tenor, low enough to rumble sexily, yet not so much that it was incomprehensible. Girls close enough to hear it jumped and shrieked immediately, fainting like rows of dominoes.

Naruto laughed at this, feeling a rush of happiness roll over him as hyperventilating, blushing red, Journalism 101 student handed both he and Sasuke a copy of the KAT Daily Newsletter. Seconds passed as the two best friends/rivals read through the sheet, and eventually, Naruto flashed another one of his faint-bringing smiles.

He tilted the paper toward Sasuke, who was starting to wonder why the blonde was smiling, a simple quirk of his perfectly arched eyebrow speaking for itself, and he pointed to the two, bolded, underlined and italicized names toward the bottom of the paper.

"Tsunade-baa-chan wants me and Sakura in her office."

The Uchiha nodded quickly, urging him to continue without words, something he did often.

Naruto scoffed, "Well, ugh, it's like, pshh, like, not about anyone right next to me getting admitted back into K.A. or anything _like that_."

Sasuke smirked. These idiots were making it too easy.

Before they could follow the way into the building after Neji had opened the door, Naruto placed a hand on his friend's shoulder, looking and sounding more serious than Sasuke thought possible. "Don't be a Bastard. She already knows everything that you've done, so don't play dumb. I suggest the 'humble' card will do. And if you're still going on with that dumbass thing of bombing--"

Sasuke shrugged Naruto's hand of haughtily, stalking casually through the halls and to the Principal's office, hands in pockets, sunglasses in place. In the hall, though, a hall monitor, snotty nosed, germ covered, hall monitor stopped him, placing a hand on his chest.

"No glasses in the hall. I'm going to have to ask you to remove them."

_What's with the touchy-touchy_, Sasuke sneered, but when the boy refused to remove his grimy hand, he simply gripped the wrist and threw it away. "Take off—"

Sasuke hushed him with a cold turn and glare that penetrated through the dark glass. "Like hell I will, bitch."

* * *

**A/N: New Project. I don't really know. I shrug now. LOL. Tell me what you think? **

**Reveiw (it decides the fate of continuation!) **

**~NaruBaby2496**


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